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by vulcanhighblood



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuddles, Emotions, Feels, M/M, Mutual Pining?, Sort of? - Freeform, Underage Drinking?, bartender Hunk, cute boys being cute, lance is homesick, many emotions are felt, not as much kissing as i would like, space booze, what is the drinking age in space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 04:29:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8431879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vulcanhighblood/pseuds/vulcanhighblood
Summary: Lance is homesick. But maybe, with the right person, he doesn't have to be.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [worldturnedupsidedown](https://archiveofourown.org/users/worldturnedupsidedown/gifts).



It isn't often that Lance goes off alone in a corner and mopes. Well, at least, he doesn't do it _as often_ anymore. It's not like he's trying to get attention, puh-leeze! If he wanted anyone to _notice_ him all he had to do was walk into a room with at least one other person present and bam! Attention. Lance was, to put it simply, an eye magnet. He was like a giant celestial body, so dramatically obvious that the very fabric of space slowed down as it approached to take a second look because _dammmmn_. Or something like that. Science. Whatever.

So obviously Lance wasn't curled up in a corner to get attention, that would have been counterproductive. In fact, attention was the _last_ thing he wanted. It was hard, really, keeping things bottled up when the other Paladins had the ability to get in your head. For all his demonstrativeness, Lance was still a private person, and sometimes he had to deal with his own shit. Sometimes he didn't want to burden the others. Or - and this was what really worried Lance - ruin his reputation. He worked hard to be the fun adventurous one of the group. And adventure is fun, really! But so is green grass, blue skies, brilliant sunsets, dark clouds, the wind whipping through your hair, the sting of cold rain on your cheeks… Sometimes, Lance wanted to have fun a little bit closer to home. The universe was so big, so vast, so _strange_ , and yeah it was full of adventure. But for all his talk, Lance really, _really_ missed home.

And so, on the days when his longing for home tore like a gaping wound in through chest, Lance found his way to a place where he could be alone, to swallow down the sobs forcing their way up his throat.

He took a shuddering breath, and glanced at the bottle in his hand. He wasn't sure of the drinking age for Alteans, and he wasn't sure how strong (or good) the alcohol would be, but he'd seen Coran take one earlier and he figured if _Coran_ could have some, why couldn't he?

 _But you're not an adult_ , the small voice in the back of his head (that sounded eerily like Hunk) whispered.

“I’m sure it's fine,” Lance whispered to himself, staring at the liquid sloshing around in the bottle. He'd had the occasional glass of champagne at family occasions, drank the communion wine whenever he accompanied his mom to church, and he'd tried his dad's beer once (he'd expected something that tasted a lot less like carbonated piss),  but otherwise he hadn't really indulged in alcoholic beverages. For one thing, Lance didn't like to relinquish control, and somehow drinking felt like giving up control. He'd seen his drunk friends do _really_ dumb things and he had a _reputation_. He didn't want to know the sort of antics Drunk Lance might pull that Sober Lance would be responsible for the morning after.

Lance swished the bottle again. Then again, drinking had always left him with a sort of lightheaded fuzzy feeling. He wouldn't go so far as to say _good_ , but it… well, it took the edge off things. Lance needed something to take the edge off. He sighed, setting it down and staring out at the unfamiliar constellations again.

“There you are!” Hunk’s cheery voice drifted around the corner, settling over Lance like a warm blanket.

Lance tried to be irritated - he'd wanted to be left alone, after all - but found he didn't have it in him. Not with Hunk.

Hunk, who eased his considerable bulk into the tight squeeze between the porthole and the crate, snuggled up next to Lance. He whistled lowly. “Wow, that's quite the view,” he commented.

 _Cold and dark and lonely and empty,_ Lance thought darkly. He grunted in response to Hunk’s comment, keeping the unpleasant thought to himself.

“And just think,” Hunk murmured. “Every one of those lights is a star, some with planets, and some of those planets have _people_. And those people have families and friends and lives and hopes and dreams and even if you wanted to you'd never be able to meet them all.” Hunk made a contented sound, leaning his shoulder up against Lance’s. “I used to think the _Earth_ was big,” he confided.

“The Earth _is_ big,” Lance retorted. “And it's _gone_.”

Hunk blinked. “It's still out there somewhere. Isn't it? Oh god, is it not? Did I miss something? Oh man-”

“No, Hunk, stop,” Lance cut him off, exasperated and already regretting opening his big mouth. “The Earth is fine. It's just not...here. Y’know?”

Hunk turned slowly, looking at Lance carefully. It was the kind of gaze that, had it been anyone else, would have made Lance incredibly uncomfortable. “Yeah,” Hunk said softly, eyes full. “I know.”

Lance suppressed a shudder. “It's so...big,” he said miserably.

Hunk wrapped an arm around Lance’s shoulders, tugging him closer. Lance eased into the soft, solid warmth of Hunk, feeling the tightness in his chest ease fractionally. “It doesn't have to be,” Hunk murmured, before grimacing and pulling back slightly. He reached between them, withdrawing the bottle Lance had brought along to his moping session. He glanced at the bottle, at Lance, then back to the bottle.  Lance felt his face begin to burn as Hunk unscrewed the cap and sniffed delicately, making a face. “Wow,” Hunk said, “You weren't planning on drinking that, were you?”

Lance felt his face begin to burn. “Well, I,” he began, fishing for an excuse that didn't make him look pathetic, but Hunk cut him off.

“I have _way_ better stuff in the kitchens,” Hunk told Lance, grunting and pulling himself to his feet, extending a hand. “You interested?”

Lance blinked hard. “Um...yes?”

Hunk took Lance’s hand in his own large, calloused palm and tugged. Lance nearly faceplanted in Hunk’s chest, which honestly would have been okay with him. He and Hunk had long since acknowledged the mutual attraction that existed between the two of them, but not too long after becoming Paladins they'd come to a mutual agreement that this wasn't the time to pursue anything serious. Rather, Hunk had questioned the timing and Lance had questioned his own ability to commit. The two remained close friends, but had agreed to leave it at that. Over time, Lance had found his affection for Hunk growing steadily, although he didn't know how Hunk felt. In any case, Lance didn't want to rock the boat, and he wasn't sure when the time would be right for Hunk to agree to something more serious. Despite his resignation to being “just friends”, being so close to Hunk still made Lance’s heart beat a little faster. He didn't need the help of alcohol to heat his face until a light blush dusted his cheeks.

Hunk glanced down and, seeing Lance’s blush, quickly sprouted a blush of his own. “Oh,” he said, “Sorry, I guess I don't know my own strength.”

For not the first time, the image of Hunk hoisting him up and fucking him against a wall floated into his mind. Lance quickly banished the image as it was _not_ helping him calm down at _all._ “Haha, yeah...you might wanna work on that,” Lance said lamely, scrubbing at the back of his neck.

“So… kitchen?” Hunk indicated with his other hand, the first still wrapped around Lance’s.

Lance glanced down at their intertwined hands.

Hunk released his hand then, chuckling a little, turning to lead the way. Lance followed, his melancholy already mostly forgotten now that Hunk was with him.

* * *

“I had _no_ idea alcohol could taste this good!” Lance was shouting. He wasn't exactly sure why, but he was excited and it seemed appropriate somehow. Hunk seemed amused, sipping on his drink. Hunk had drank at least as much as Lance and didn't seem to be affected at all. Lance figured it had to do with Hunk’s body mass. Also Hunk had snacked intermittently, whereas Lance hadn't been particularly interested in eating.

So Lance was _excited_. This stuff actually tasted _good_. And Hunk was smiling, and he didn't feel so _alone._ It was great. “You know,” Lance commented, “I don't feel so lonely when I'm with you.”

Hunk smiled gently, setting his drink aside even as Lance drained his own. “Oh?” he commented gently.

“I mean, I try and put on a brave face and all, but I'm sure you see through that,” Lance continued, still speaking like Hunk was across the room from him rather than across the counter.

“For the most part,” Hunk said. “You do put on a pretty good brave face though.”

“Did you say I have a pretty face?” Lance demanded.

“I said it was pretty brave,” Hunk took a sip. “But you do have a pretty face too.”

“Oooh,” Lance made a kissy face at Hunk. “You think I'm preeeetty!”

Hunk half-covered his face. “Oh my god, Lance.”

“You wanna kiiiiss me! You think I'm preeeetty!”

“I think you're drunk, Lance,” Hunk rolled his eyes.

“I wanna _kiss_ you,” Lance shifted to a stage whisper, like he was letting Hunk in on a big secret. “I think you're super hot.”

Hunk grinned. “I know.”

Lance picked up his glass, frowned at it. “It's empty!”

“Yeah,” Hunk said, “That's what happens when you drink all the alcohol in your glass.”

Lance pointed his glass at Hunk. “Refill, my most attractive bartender!”

“Sorry Lance,” Hunk said sheepishly. “I gotta cut you off.”

“I’m not even drunk!” Lance whined.

Hunk laughed. “I think you've had too many drinks to accurately judge your own level of intoxication.”

Lance pouted. “Please?”

Hunk shook his head.

“I'll give you a kiss!” Lance said enticingly, wiggling his eyebrows.

Hunk shook his head. “No deal. I don't want our first kiss to be part of a transaction.” Lance sighed, feigning defeat. His eyes settled on Hunk’s glass, still relatively full. Hunk watched him, tracking his gaze. A look of knowing crossed his face. Lance lunged for Hunk’s glass, grinning. He was moving pretty slowly, though, so Hunk had plenty of time to scoop up the glass and swallow the remnants in one impressive mouthful before fixing Lance with a disapproving look. “I said no, Lance.”

Lance sighed. “Fine,” he said, “ _but I’m not drunk,_ ” he added in what he thought was an undertone.

Hunk sighed, an affectionate-but-peeved look on his face. “I think maybe it's time for you to go to bed.”

“Do I get a goodnight kiss?” Lance asked coquettishly.

Hunk shook his head. “You're drunk, Lance. Ask again when you're sober.”

“ _Maybe I will_ ,” Lance grumbled under his breath.

Hunk glanced at Lance, and the look in his eyes seemed to say _I hope you do_. His lips, however, said, “Will you be able to walk yourself back to your room?”

Lance shuddered then, remembering suddenly why he'd wanted the alcohol in the first place. It was a sobering thought, and the eyes he turned to Hunk weren't half as glazed as the ones from mere moments earlier. “I can't... _I don't want to be alone_ ,” he said, softly. Almost to himself. “Not tonight.”

Hunk sighed, but it was a sigh of comfortable resignation brought on by familiarity rather than actual irritation. “My room or yours?”

The thought of snuggling up against Hunk, wrapped in blankets that smelled like Hunk, possibly even borrowing his pajamas, made it an easy decision. “Yours.”

Hunk stood, stashing the alcohol wherever he'd had it hidden before rounding the counter and scooping an arm under Lance’s, tugging the scrawny paladin’s arm behind his neck and wrapping his own broad arm around Lance’s back.

“I can walk,” Lance protested as they rose. He wobbled, leaning into Hunk while he struggled to find his equilibrium. “Sort of,” he amended.

Hunk chuckled. “Let’s go.”

Lance didn't remember much about what happened after that. There was some truly horrendous drunk flirting that went on, a disaster of a striptease that was aborted after Lance faceplanted while trying to sexily take off his pants, and some really inappropriate comments made while Hunk helped Lance into some PJs. At one point, Lance not-so-subtly hinted that they should shower together before dressing for bed. Hunk ignored this and handed Lance a toothbrush, followed by a glass of water, which Lance drank under Hunk’s watchful eye.

Hunk settled Lance on the bed and flicked off the lights, sliding under the covers next to the blue paladin, pulling him flush against his body. The soft warmth and alcohol conspired against Lance, and after two wholly ineffective hip rolls that probably only succeeded in gut-punching Hunk, Lance drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

* * *

Lance awoke the next morning with a low grade headache and no small amount of embarrassment at his admittedly borderline wanton behavior the night before. He'd been right all along, Drunk Lance was an idiot. But he lay there in Hunk’s bed nonetheless, feeling the yellow paladin’s soft breath rustling the hair at the nape of his neck, enjoying the way Hunk's arm curled possessively around him and the gentle press of Hunk’s body as his lungs filled with air, bringing them closer with each breath. Lance could lay like this forever, he realized. It felt so familiar, like…

Home. Lance couldn't place a finger on when exactly he'd started to associate the two, but suddenly it was like two halves had clicked together, forming a whole, coherent thought. Hunk was _home_. Home was _Hunk._ To Lance, the two had somehow become inextricably linked, and he understood now why Hunk’s solid, steady presence always made him feel better when he felt alone and homesick.

A moment later, Lance realized that he had no idea if Hunk felt the same way. Yes, they were both _physically_ attracted to each other, but this was something much deeper, more _real_ than something as superficial as physical attraction. Lance felt _whole_ when Hunk was here. Without Hunk, Lance wasn't sure he would have made it this far.  But Lance had no way of knowing if Hunk felt the same way. Or even felt anything at all for Lance.

Beside him, Hunk stirred, hand winding into the front of Lane’s pajamas and clenching lightly. Lance’s heart clenched too.

“...hey,” Hunk said sleepily from behind Lance’s ear. “You awake, little spoon?”

“I am,” Lance said, turning his head slightly to glance back at Hunk. “Hey, I was wondering.”

Hunk shifted slightly, lifting his head so their gazes could meet. “Yeah?”

“Would you be opposed to a good morning kiss?” Lance’s mouth was moving before he could properly understand what he was proposing. His mouth snapped shut.

Hunk considered the offer for a moment. “That depends,” he said after a moment.

“Depends on what?” Lance asked. His heart pounded in his chest. He had been half certain that Hunk was going to merely brush him off or ignore the comment, like he had last night. _But you were drunk last night_ , Lance realized belatedly. _This isn't the alcohol talking, this is_ you _. Are you_ really _ready to lay yourself bare while sober?_ Lance wasn't sure, but he'd started the conversation now, and he would follow through with it, even if it killed him! ...he hoped it wouldn't come to that, though.

“Is it going to be just one kiss?” Hunk asked, which was not at all the sort of question Lance had been expecting.

“Um,” Lance said, feeling his face begin to burn. He wasn't sure how to respond, but his mouth did a pretty good job at running on autopilot, so Lance just sort of let the words start falling out of his mouth. “I mean, that's up to you, but if it were me? I would really like to kiss more than once. Also hold hands. And do other things.” _Like cuddle together for hours just being close to each other. And…also... not-cuddling._

Hunk considered this. “What are you proposing?” he asked softly, snuggling up against Lance’s cheek, resting his jaw on the smaller paladin’s shoulder. His actions served to heat Lance’s face even further.

Lance cleared his throat a little, trying unsuccessfully to gather his thoughts. “I know we’ve discussed things - us - before, and I was hoping maybe your feelings on the matter might have changed, because I know mine have and honestly with every day that goes by it gets harder for me to imagine a life without you and I just realized that as long as I have you even if the Earth is gone I still have a home with you and I was hoping you might feel that way too so I sort of started this whole conversation because I need to know if you can accept my feelings or if this was one giant mistake but now that I've told you I’m afraid to hear the answer, oh my god, I don't think I can stop talking, Hunk, I-”

“Lance,” Hunk cut him off with an amused chuckle. “Take a breath.”

Lance took a breath, then started talking again.  “I mean, if you don't feel the same way of course I completely understand-”

“Lance,” Hunk said again, now sounding slightly exasperated in addition to amused. “Take a breath, and _listen_.”

Lance snapped his mouth shut and nodded jerkily.

“Now, from what I can understand, based on what you just said,” Hunk’s expression was soft, his voice even softer. “You've developed feelings for me. Am I interpreting that correctly?”

Lance opened his mouth to answer in the affirmative.

“ _Don't_ say anything,” Hunk cut him off quickly. “Just nod yes or no.”

Lance nodded vigorously.

“All right,” Hunk sounded pleased, but not as pleased as Lance would have liked. He was so invested in knowing Hunk’s answer, but Hunk seemed to be very calm. Perhaps _too_ calm. Lance felt his heart rate climb as Hunk continued in a soothing, no-nonsense tone. “The second thing I’m getting from you is that you'd like to see a shift in our relationship from friends to… well, something more than friends.”

Lance nodded again, heart in his throat.

“You're worried about my reaction based on the discussion we had awhile back about _this,_ ” Hunk bobbed his head to indicate the two of them, “which is reasonable.” Hunk started to pull away, and Lance felt his stomach crawl up to meet his heart in his throat. He was going to be sick, and it had nothing to do with the previous night’s alcohol.

“Can we sit up?” Hunk requested, shifting the blankets around, his arm pulling away from Lance as he did so. “I want to see your face for a discussion like this.”

Lance shifted a little, sitting up as well. They sat there, on Hunk’s bed, staring at each other for a heart-stopping moment. Then Hunk reached out and took Lance’s hands, holding them gently, the warmth in his palms spreading through Lance like a sip of hot chocolate on a cold winter morning.

Hunk rubbed his thumbs over the back of Lance’s hands absently before speaking again. “I've liked you for a long time,” he confessed. “Before all this, all the way back at Galaxy Garrison. So when you a approached me that first time, I knew I couldn't accept anything less than a total commitment.” Lance’s breath caught in his throat as the words slowly worked their way into the panicked mush that was the blue paladin’s brain.

“Wait, does that mean-?” Lance began, but Hunk fixed him with a look and Lance swallowed whatever he had been about to say.

“What are you looking for, Lance? Because I'm not settling for anything less than _all of you_.” Hunk said seriously.

“If that's all you want,” Lance said, wondering if this was a dream, and if so, how to ensure he never _ever_ woke up from it, “You've had that for a long time now. I just wasn't ready to admit it. But I'm ready now.”

“In that case,” Hunk said, disentangling his fingers from one of Lance’s hands and reaching up to cup his cheek, pulling him forward to press a chaste kiss to Lance’s lips before murmuring “Good morning.” Their faces were a mere hair’s breadth apart, so when he whispered their lips brushed together.  

Lance reacted immediately, wrapping an arm around Hunk’s shoulders, tangling his fingers in the hair at the nape of Hunk’s neck. “Good morning,” he whispered back, before capturing Hunk's lips in his own. For a new sensation, Lance was surprised at how familiar, how _right_ it felt. It felt like sunlight chasing away clouds. Like daffodils bobbing in the wind. Like raindrops dancing on a windowpane.  Like coming home to the welcoming embrace of family. Like coming home. Like home.

For the first time in years, Lance knew he was _home_. And that somehow, as long as he had Hunk, he knew things would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> drink safely, guys! (i do not promote drinking to dull the pain - please find healthy coping mechanisms)
> 
> I really liked the idea of homesick Lance, and ALSO the idea of running around with space booze. Hopefully combining the two prompts worked for everyone else as much as it worked for me, I know I had fun writing it! Thanks for reading!!


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